1. Field of the Invention
The present patent application for industrial invention relates to a display, in particular a refrigerated display used to display food products. Although in the following description reference is made to a refrigerated display, the present invention is extended to any type of display.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 37 CFR 1.98.
Various types of refrigerated displays are known on the market to display food products. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a display (100) comprising a box frame (1) that comprises a compartment (2) intended to contain foods in general and beverages to be refrigerated, and an opening (4) that provides access to said compartment (2). In correspondence of said opening (4) the display (100) comprises an upper crosspiece (12) and a lower crosspiece (13).
The display (100) comprises two pairs (C) of revolving door panels (3) intended to close the opening (4) of the box frame (1).
Each door panel (3) can be disposed in a plurality of positions comprised between an opening position, wherein the pairs (C) of door panels (3) provide access to the compartment (2), and a closing position, wherein the access to the compartment (2) is prohibited to preserve the internal temperature.
The pairs (C) of door panels (3) open towards the interior of the compartment (2) in such way that, in opening position, the door panels (3) are contained inside the compartment (2).
FIG. 2 is a detailed view of one of the door panels (3) of one of said pairs (C) of door panels (3). Each door panel (3) has a rectangular configuration and comprises:                a first side (3d) directed towards the interior of the compartment (2) when the door panel (3) is in closing position,        a second side (3e) directed towards the outside of the compartment (2) when the door panel (3) is in closing position,        two vertical lateral edges (3a) in parallel position,        an upper horizontal edge (3b) disposed in proximity to the upper crosspiece (12),        a lower horizontal edge (3c) disposed in proximity to the lower crosspiece (13).        
The two door panels (3) of each pair (C) are disposed in side by side position and hinged in correspondence of the opposite vertical edges (3a) in such a way to rotate in opposite direction around corresponding vertical axes of rotation (Y-Y).
Advantageously, said pairs (C) of door panels (3) are either partially or fully transparent in order to allow the user to see the products contained in the compartment (2).
The display (100) comprises hinging means (7a) to hinge the door panels (3) to said box frame (1).
The hinging means (7a) are configured in such way that the door panels (3) rotate around the corresponding vertical axes (Y-Y) of rotation.
The hinging means (7a) comprise:                an upper pin (73) that connects the door panel (3) to the upper crosspiece (12) of the box frame (1), and        an idle lower pin (70) that connects the door panel (3) to the lower crosspiece (13) of the box frame (1).        
With reference to FIG. 1, the display (100) comprises an actuation means (M1) for the automatic actuation of each door panel (3).
The actuation means (M1) actuate the hinging means (7a) to make the door panel (3) rotate around the axis of rotation (Y-Y); in particular, the actuation means (M1) are connected to the upper pin (73) of the hinging means of each door panel (3).
The upper pin (73) of the hinging means of a door panel (3) is actuated by the actuation means (M1) and permits the rotation of the door panel (3).
The display (100) comprises detection means (R) to detect the presence of the user in proximity to the door panel (3) and/or inside the compartment (2) of the display (100), as shown in FIG. 1.
The detection means (R) detect the presence of the user in proximity to one of the door panels (3) and send an activation signal, either directly or with a manual command, to the actuation means (M1) that consist in a set of electric motors, each of them comprising a drive shaft coupled to one of the upper pins (73) of the door panels (3); in view of the above, when a motor is actuated, the corresponding door panel (3) is rotated in the opening or closing direction according to the direction of rotation of the electric motor.
In case of a refrigerated display, the display (100) comprises means for cold air circulation, which are not shown in the figure, intended to refrigerate the interior of said compartment (2).
A first drawback of this type of displays (100) of the prior art is related with the fact that the door panels (3) cannot be operated if the actuation means (M1) are blocked.
The blocking of said electric motors can be caused either by a breakdown or a blackout.
A second drawback is related to the fact that the door panels (3) are joined to the actuation means (M1) and consequently an incorrect operation of the actuation means (M1) would cause an incorrect actuation of the door panels (3).
Moreover, in case of malfunctioning of the detection means (R), they would not identify the presence of the user's hand inside the compartment (2) and would consequently send an activation signal to the actuation means (M1) to enable the closing of the door panels (3), with the risk of injuring the user's hand by tightening it between the pair of door panels (3) automatically actuated in closing direction.
On the contrary, in case of malfunctioning, said detection means (R) would not identify the presence of a user in front of the door panels (3) and, consequently, would not send an activation signal to the actuation means (M1) to enable the opening of the door panels (3), thus preventing the user from accessing the compartment (2) and picking the desired product.
An additional drawback is that the door panels (3) are difficult to dismount given the fact that the upper pin (73) of each door panel (3) is firmly connected with the drive shaft of one of the electric motors.
Finally, an additional drawback of said displays (100) of the prior art consists in the difficulty encountered in synchronizing the simultaneous movement of the two door panels (3) of each pair (C) of door panels (3); such a drawback occurs when the two electric motors that are used to operate each pair (C) of door panels (3) are not perfectly synchronized originally or lose synchronization during operation.
Last but not least, another drawback is related to the high purchasing and maintenance cost of the set of electric motors provided for the automatic actuation of the door panels (3).
U.S. Pat. No. 4,341,083 discloses a refrigerated merchandiser display cabinet comprising five doors and a system of levers intended to open each door. An opening lever is actuated by an electric motor to open the door of the display cabinet automatically. In particular, the opening lever is intended to rub against a back element obtained in the door panel in such manner that interference between the opening lever and the back element obtained on the door panel determines the automatic opening of the door panel. However, the closing of the door panel is entrusted to a user who must push the door panel manually towards the closing position. In fact, the operation of the opening lever does not allow for closing the door panel automatically because the opening lever and the door are not attached, but only provided with rubbing contact.
WO2014/178629 discloses a showcase comprising doors attached to opening and closing levers; said levers are connected to said doors by means of attachment or release means, such as for example hooks, pins and the like. Each opening lever is actuated by an electric motor. Said attachment and release means allow for mounting and dismounting the door easily with respect to the automatic opening and closing lever. However, said attachment and release means do not allow for moving the door when the opening and closing lever is blocked because of a breakdown of the electric motor used to actuate it.
The main purpose of the present invention is to overcome the drawbacks of the prior art as described above, by devising an improved display that is capable of operating also in case of breakdown or malfunctioning of the actuation means and of the detection means.
The second purpose of the present invention is to devise an improved display wherein the provision of actuation means for the automatic actuation of the door panels is able to avoid detrimental effects for the safety of the users or of the operators in charge of loading and maintaining the display of the invention.
The third purpose of the present invention is to devise an improved display that, in addition to achieving the aforementioned purposes, is provided with actuation means for the pairs of door panels, which are able to solve the aforementioned problems with reference to the synchronization of the opening/closing movement of the door panels of each pair of door panels.